With an FBI file at least 17,000 pages long, American Indian activist, actor, musician and poet John Trudell had a story waiting for a film.
Trudell grew up on the Santee Sioux reservation in Nebraska and first came to national attention in 1969 as the spokesman for the Indians of All Tribes Occupation of Alcatraz Island.
When asked how he came to speak for the group, Trudell, 60, jokes, "I outlasted everybody else."
The occupation began Nov. 9, 1969, when a group of urban Indian residents and students (Trudell was one of them, just out of college with a degree in radio and TV programming) claimed the island in the name of all tribes. For a year and a half they garnered headlines until June 10, 1971, when armed federal marshals, FBI agents, and special forces police swarmed the island and removed five women, four children, and six unarmed Indian men.
From there Trudell helped form the American Indian Movement, acting as its national chairman during the siege at Wounded Knee, which involved the death of two federal agents and an American Indian.
In 1979, citing injustice, racism and classism, he burned a flag in front of the FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. Less than 24 hours later his wife, three children and mother-in-law were killed in a suspicious fire on the Shoshone Paiute reservation in Nevada. He has called it "murder" and "an act of war." He left politics and has not gone back.
These events and Trudell's work as a poet, musician and actor helped inspire "Trudell -- The Movie," which was directed by Heather Rae, an adjunct professor at Boise State University. Kris Kristofferson, Bonnie Raitt and Robert Redford are some of the people interviewed in the movie. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2005, and is scheduled for DVD release this summer.
"I like the film. I think they did a good job," says Trudell in a phone interview from his home in Santa Monica, Calif. "They laid my history in the context of a larger history. I'm really comfortable with that, rather than something just about me."
Trudell, who will speak Saturday at the University of Idaho American Indian Film Festival, has acted in the films "Smoke Signals" and "Thunderheart" and believes film can help change society.
"I think that it's one of the few truly effective mediums we have to help create and initiate social change. If real stories are told through film I think it can play a strong role. We really can't depend on any institution to tell us what is going on. ... The reality is there and I think it emerges through the population through their culture and art."
Trudell lost his mother at an early age and watched his father struggle to support their large family. After a brief stint in the Navy and Vietnam his disillusionment led him to explore his native roots.
He believes American Indian culture contains fragments of truth the rest of society needs -- fragments because knowledge was lost through genocide and assimilation.
"It's about a perception of reality that is based upon the spiritual responsibilities of life. I think that the outside culture has had this perception of reality taken away from them. They didn't lose it; it was taken away from them. ... I call it the consciousness of life. Now we've been surrounded by a mindset of fear, death and sedation."
Trudell has achieved a near prophet-like status in some circles. Bob Dylan called his album "AKA Graffiti Man" the best of 1995. Angelina Jolie was an executive producer on "Trudell" and his latest album "Bone Days."
"I'm still trying to figure out how that happened," Trudell quips about the fortune of connecting with Jolie. She got in touch with him because of her All Tribes Foundation, he explains.
He believes the tumultuous social movements of the 1970s had a positive effect on the life of American Indians today.
"Our cultural identity is stronger. It made our spirit stronger. ... It rekindled the spirit in some kind of way. I think that's the most significant gain that was made."
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Bauer may be contacted at jkbauer@lmtribune.com or (208) 743-9600, ext. 263.
